Reviews for Woman who glows in the dark

The average rating for Woman who glows in the dark based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-02-18 00:00:00 Bernardo Sebastian Famous liner on why many favor (het/hs) pross de touts: They leave after an hour. In fact, I knew a French film producer who'd say, c 8 am, "Cherie, you must go now. The maid will be here shortly." If you dont understand these 2 grafs, you're naif and know nothing of life. Herein, author Benderson, in his mid50s+, who has been around, arrives in Budapest to do an article on the underbelly sex trade, and, first night, meets a lad (Romulus, age 24) and instantly is smitten beyond belief. Romy is allegedly het, but his willy is always stiff, even for gf who works as a whore for a wretched chink. "Welcome to Budapest!" Or Prague or Bucharest. Song: "Love for sale." Benderson comes across as an inexperienced (but nice?) jerk from Syracuse, NY, where his Jewish mutti is needy and dying. Over the next 8 mos, Romy does nothing but watch TV -- what do these two talk about?? -- while author translates a Celine Dion tasket of trash. I have no idea who Romy is...(probably a composite of 3 or 4 types)... and the author's smug story of his "obsession" goes nowhere. It is a bore. Remember the riveting story of Philip & Mildred by MOM ? You couldnt put it down ! Mildred was electrifying. (I just browsed again to confirm). Why did this 400 page novel win big French award, and so on?? Author stuffs his novel's hole, a big hole, with a history of Queen Marie of Romania (remember the Dot Parker couplet?), her son Prince Carol and his sssh! Jewish mistress Lupescu, which he brazenly but smoothly relates to Mutti (hence Euro award?), and then, OY !, adds more plot with Brancusi inserts. Hey, we're not done yet ! ~~ Amid bits of E Euro anti-sem we are confronted, minus humor or irony, with reminders of Communist vs Fascist vs Capitalist horreurs. "Calling Anita Loos for a rewrite!" This brings up another issue for me : author photos ...the more dreary the author, the bigger the photo. I see Joan Didion and wanna OD. Well, that's one example. Here, author has semi-hed shot with haunted eyes that say, "Sex in EEuro may be fun, but there's always stress."

Review # 2 was written on 2007-07-12 00:00:00 Jesse Mcfarlane Few projects can sound less promising than a 400-page chronicle of a pudgy middle-aged Jew's erotic obsession with a scraggly Romanian hustler, but Bruce Benderson has written a minor classic. What so easily might have been pretentious soft-core sociology intent on justifying its author and titillating its readers has been transformed into a tale that is by turn comically masochistic, depraved, psychologically lacerating and finally luminous. There's no redemptive arc, no gratuitous groveling or ersatz wisdom. Benderson's honesty and deeply civilized, codeine-infused, depressed and decadent style lift this book echelons above the usual run of memoir.